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simonrosenbaum

Reviews

Another Great M. Night Out

5 November 2016 - 0 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

Wow is M. Night Shyamalan the most misunderstood director in history. His critics seem to want him to make a certain kind of film and are really not happy when he doesn't. This is the seventh film I've seen of his and although I'll admit it's probably not up there with his best ones I still found it very enjoyable. All his films have a different quality that make them stand out and are not as predictable as most of the films that get made in that genre. I'm pretty sure this was meant as a black comedy but it was also quite disturbing and creepy. I liked Wahlberg's wide eyed performance and the way he played it for laughs a lot of the time. I hope Shyamalan is strong enough to ignore the haters and continues to make interesting and entertaining films.

I'll take one with cheese please.

25 October 2016 - 1 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

All these people giving the film 1 or 2 stars should be ignored (and sent to bed without any supper) as it's quite obviously not anywhere near that bad a film. I enjoyed the first film much more than I expected to possibly because of the stupidly low rating and I enjoyed this one almost as much. The dialogue that everyone says is cheesy is no more cheesy than most of the films in this genre. The performances were all fine believe me I've seen some truly bad films with terrible acting and dialogue and this is a masterpiece compared to them. I'm starting to really mistrust the ratings as I'm just a likely to enjoy a film rated really low as not enjoy one that's rated high.

The Stinkiest Piece Of Cheese

22 April 2016

If this was a childhood favourite then so be it you can't be helped. But coming to this as an adult with a fondness for Disney I have to say the usual Disney magic is completely missing here. I knew we were in trouble straight away when Michael Crawford's Hello Dolly American accent reared it's ugly head again. The first mission was quite amusing and cleverly choreographed and instantly falling in love was ridiculous but forgivable and there's one or two other passable mildly funny bits but it was very hard going sloppily written and directed. I admit I did drop off at one point. Maybe with a better actor it might have worked. It's a shame as it looked like they spent a lot of money on the special effects and locations. A low point for Disney (3/10)

Watch it in deep freeze!

22 June 2014

The BBC are currently showing all of these official FIFA documentaries of the World Cup from the 60's onwards. I missed the first one they showed of the 1962 World Cup but I've watched the 1966 and 1970 ones. They were both quite good with lots of football action. Unfortunately I'm not sure what happened with this one but it's pretty terrible. To start with it opens with a spoiler immediately telling you who won and the result of the final which makes you think why should I bother watching anymore then. After that there's a dreary depressing inquest of the losing team and then some filler of fans drinking and dancing before we finally get to some footie action of the early stages but then that's over before you know it and we're almost at the final and there's still over an hour to go! So then we get too much of the final lots of bits where the referee has a go at the players. The music chosen is also very odd especially during the final and on top of all that the narration is laughably bad and at times so pretentious that I don't know what they were thinking. It's a shame that this 'official' documented film of a great World cup is so poorly done. (3/10)

An Intriguing Story.

9 February 2014 - 9 out of 10 users found this review helpful.

After reading the one poor review and seeing the very low score this had I nearly didn't bother watching it but I decided to give it a go anyway. I really wish I hadn't checked up on it beforehand though as it did prejudice my feelings about it certainly to begin with. The story was an intriguing one and was told in a low key but atmospheric way which kept you interested to it's conclusion. I agree Andrew Scott and his strangulated accent wasn't quite as good as you would expect him to be but I thought Simon Russell Beale was particularly good playing a more forceful and less charming Smiley like character. After recently seeing the two excellent home grown TV movie's of The Great Train Robbery and Lucan this falls short of their quality but I would still say it was worth watching.

Not That Bonnie But Not That Bad

24 January 2014 - 2 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

When I saw this had a rating of 4.9 and a running time of 130 mins I was expecting a disappointing long slog of a movie and I admit it's no great film by any means but it's also no way as bad as the 4.9 rating suggests. The DVD that I watched which was from The David Niven Screen Icons collection was only 112 minutes and had a good for its age unremastered colour picture that made the most of the rich colours of the costumes and landscape. Expecting it to be a longer film I saw it in two sittings and it was hard to get into at first but by about halfway I was quite engrossed by the story and thought it was well told. No doubt its failure at the box office along with its high cost has dented its reputation but that doesn't mean it's a terrible film. I would give it a 6/10.

One of his best

19 September 2013 - 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

I'm currently working my way through the 'Ken Loach At The BBC' box set and have been fairly impressed so far though 'Up The Junction' I found almost unwatchable the others have all been very interesting and in the case of 'Cathy Come Home' very powerful and moving but none of them are as devastating and spot on as 'In Two Minds' the story of a woman with possible mental problems and how she and her family deals with it. Shot like a fly on the wall documentary which makes it seem more contemporary the acting from everybody in the cast is so natural and believable and the editing and direction are far better executed than any of his previous films I was surprised and blown away with how good this was.(9/10)

Cold To Touch

17 June 2013 - 25 out of 25 users found this review helpful.

I thought I would give an alternative review as the only other one seems very harsh indeed. Maybe if I read the book I would have been just as disappointed with it but as I haven't I cannot comment about comparisons with the book. But what I can say is that I found the story absorbing and compelling, well acted by all the cast and never less than interesting right up to its unpredictable conclusion. If you like a good mystery thriller then I would recommend seeing this and if you enjoy it enough maybe then read the book afterwards. That's all I really wanted to say but I don't seem to have reached the required ten line rule that is currently being enforced!

another dud

5 June 2013 - 10 out of 44 users found this review helpful.

After last weeks appalling episode we have another very dull and insipid story that goes nowhere very fast. Great actors like David Warner are completely wasted. Like last week the story is very weak. I'm not in the least bit surprised that Matt Smith has decided to call it a day and leave this sinking ship. I really don't see much of a future if they can't improve things greatly. We just want a bit more thought to be put into it with a decent (or even half-decent) story like there has been in previous series. I've only seen the first three maybe it improves but I'm starting to think I'm never going to see a good episode again.

A Complete Waste of Space

24 April 2013 - 25 out of 58 users found this review helpful.

As somebody else has already stated this is a horrible horrible episode where as usual your expected to feel unearned connections and emotions. Last week's episode had a great build up but a too quick unsatisfying ending this week there was no great build up just a long drawn out ending filled with terrible po faced blustering dialogue.

If you can't give us a satisfying adventure over 45 minutes which is what seems to be happening recently then please go back to well thought out original stories that last at least two episodes so that the story and the emotional depth can be built more organically and honestly. If that can't be done then I really don't see the point of doing them anymore,not if we get episodes as empty as this one.